Santheres, officially the Most Eminently Serene Noble Republic of Santheres is an equatorial country located mostly in the northern hemisphere. It is comprised of the Santherese continent as well as numerous small islands in the nearby ocean.

There are twenty-three administrative regions, discounting all foreign dependencies, and nine major noble families. Santheres is an economically powerful nation, and focuses widely on humanitarian action, both on a national and a more personal scale. Santheres trades globally, but its primary partners are its closest neighbors.

Geography

Santheres consists primarily of rain forest and mountainous cloud forest in the central regions; and broad, flat tropical savannah in the north and along much of its coastline. These are generally separated by mountains and cloud forests. Some of the rain forest has been cleared for human settlement, but the vast majority of it remains as natural as possible. Much of the coast is protected by harsh cliff faces, but wide beaches dot these at fairly narrow intervals and there are large natural harbors. Rainfall is heaviest in the central Ucayare province.

Climate

Temperatures in Santheres can reach over 38ºC (100ºF), and rarely sink below 18ºC (65ºF). The yearly average is approximately 26.5ºC (80ºF). Humidity is high year-round, and there is no dry season in most of the country as rainfall averages at least 4 inches every month, often more. Santheres is uniformly tropical, and experiences no difference between summer and winter; it is hot and wet throughout the year, with heavy rains at least two days out of the week in most of the central regions of the country. The change in temperature between day and night is decidedly larger than the average change in temperature between "summer" and "winter".

Much of the rain forest experiences over 750 cm (295 in.) of rainfall a year, a product of heavy precipitation on a nearly daily basis. The northern savannah, however, is naturally drier and does have a relative dry season which averages less than 5 cm (2 in.)of rainfall in each of the summer months.

Politics

As a noble republic, various members of the noble class are elected to offices. The Corpe Signorie - the body of lords, a legislature - and the Consiglie dei Diexi - the Council of Ten - are the two elective branches. They operate elections in different fashions, however, with the Signorie requiring first a vote from the commons to establish how many seats each House controls. Other branches do not make use of common confidence votes; Council elections are done solely out of the body of the nobility. Defense Administration officials are not voted upon.

No-confidence votes may be called for at any time, for any member of the government, no matter their title, role, or how long they have been in office. These votes have tended to succeed historically, removing the offending member from office, and as such have historically served as useful tools in keeping politicians in line.

Government

Administrative Divisions

Crime and Law Enforcement

Law Enforcement in the Most Eminently Serene Noble Republic is primarily the responsibility of the carabinieri. Other national level agencies such as the FBI_ANALOG have specialized duties and operate in conjunction with the carabinieri, though are outside of the traditional military structure. Jurisprudence operates on a common law system, and all trials start at the lowest rung in the court system and may move up through appeals to the provincial level. Lacking a national constitution, there is no constitutional court.

Criminal punishment is centered around rehabilitation, with incarceration available in cases determined to be outside of the realm of mental illness or minor offense. Incarceration rates are extremely low due to the social policies of the country, with fewer than one prisoner per 100,000 persons. Rehabilitation rates bring the total number of held criminals to 59 per 100,000 persons.

While capital punishment is technically legal in Santheres, there have been no cases of execution for crimes in over one hundred years. It is not generally seen as a viable option for criminal punishment, but no efforts have been made to ban it.

Military

The national military is comprised primarily of the carabinieri, which acts mostly in a domestic policing role, and the condottieri, which are the standing armies of the great houses. It would be inaccurate to describe the condottieri as private military forces, as the houses are also the majority of the national government itself, and any large operations must either be run directly by STATE_DEFENSE, or approved by the STATE_DEFENSE to be run without their direct oversight.

Foreign Relations

Economy

Santheres has a stable, prosperous, and high-tech economy, maintaining a high per capita GDP relative to its population. The Santherese lira remains a strong currency with a relatively low inflation rate.

The Santherese job market is very flexible, and the unemployment rate is low, particularly among ethnic Santherese and Ucayare. Its foreign citizen population is fairly high, as much as 9%, though most people employed by Santherese corporations and their subsidiaries are employed in foreign nations, particularly within the Dienstad region.

Energy

Electricity generated in Santheres is 60% solar and wind, 39% hydroelectric and tidal, and 1% nuclear, resulting in a near-completely CO2-free electricity-generating network In 2005, one anti-nuclear initiative was turned out, but another less drastic initiative was passed in 2006, limiting the expansion of nuclear plants and aiming for a reduction in nuclear power within ten years. The initiative was tempered by forbidding the construction of CO2-producing plants in any effort to prevent nuclear expansion.

Many energy firms have been pursuing the further expansion of offshore wind parks and tidal harnesses to replace land-based windmills and nuclear plants. There was also been a continuous drive to develop more advanced solar technologies for mass deployment in urban centers.

Though fossil fuels have been almost entirely eliminated for the purposes of electrical generation, they do continue to be used in limited capacities, notably for military vehicles. Most forms of transportation, however, are either hybrid or full electric.

Infrastructure

Santheres has a well-used public transportation system based primarily around light rail and fast rail. The fast rail network carries over XXX billion passengers annually, and the light rail network is said to carry over XX billion. Though congestion is common on the few, small routes which pass through the Ucayare, all sides of the country are very well-connected. The rail systems make use of the "smart rail" technologies pioneered by HOUSE_CORP and Azienda Viro Generale to maintain total surveillance of all tracks and trains for improved security and maintainability.

The road network is funded primarily by road tolls and vehicle taxes, and is a regular recipient of donations by the great houses. The high-speed autoroute system requires the purchase of a permit for one calendar year in order to use its roadways, for both passenger cars and trucks. San Gianpiero international airport is Santheres' largest international flight gateway and handled XXX million passengers in 2011. The other major international airports are XXX (XXX million passengers), XXX (XXX million passengers), XXX, XXX, XXX, and XXX. Most cities are served by dozens of airports besides their main gateways.

Environment

Santheres has one of the best environmental records in the region. It is heavily active in recycling and anti-littering regulations, and is one of the top recyclers in the region, possibly the world, with 85-95% of recyclable materials being recycled, depending on the area of the country.

The domestic paper industry has among the most efficient recycling systems and a highly profitable farm system, which makes it a large but lowest-impact Santherese industry. Santheres is also home to a large and advanced alternative energy industry, and seeks to cut fossil fuels from domestic use entirely.

Central Santheres is dominated by the Ucayare rain forest and Mantiqueira mountain range, which cover the central regions; the Ucayare extends beyond the mountains, almost to the ocean in the south and west. The northern savannah is home to the largest cities and has been historically much more intertwined with Minyang than the rest of the continent has. The Ucayare is heavily protected by the Santherese government, as are the tribal peoples (contacted and uncontacted) which live within.

Demographics

Education

School is mandatory from ages 5 to 15, where children are considered to be legal adults. University is also mandatory, though not for those serving instead in the armed forces; in theory, this means that everyone either attend university or opts out by joining the military. This is mostly true, though research on the subject has shown that many of the poor manage to get by without either due to their general invisibility to parts of the bureaucracy. This is especially true for the white and tribal minorities, though tribal Ucayare have an unofficial exception due to their voluntary-at-best style of handling of their Santherese citizenship.

The Santherese education system has been criticized for its stress-inducing speed and comprehensiveness, and has been cited as a primary reason for smaller than average programs for post-graduate degrees and a shortage of doctoral graduates. This is particularly true for the humanities and

Religion

Languages

Health

Culture

Music and Art

Sports

The national sport of Santheres is fencing, which the vast majority of nobles learn, though they don't normally devote much time to it. Professional fencing is dominated by commons who have done little else but compete in the many circuits and championships. There are tens of thousands of teams throughout the nation, none of which have any remaining basis on social strata, and there are hundreds of leagues for each class and many more for both.

Other popular sports include tennis, football, competitive swimming and diving.

Cuisine

Vatapá, a popular dish in northern Santheres.

Santherese cuisine varies greatly by region, and incorporates many elements from cultures around it. The most popular food in Santheres, however, often contains a holy trinity of fish, garlic, and dende oil, though the latter is sometimes replaced (or used in conjunction) with coconut milk. Seafood, especially shellfish, is extremely popular in coastal regions, where most of the population lives. Exotic fruits like açaí, cupuaçu, and hog plum are among the local ingredients used in cooking, along with more common tropical fruits like mango and pineapple.